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Showing posts with label Russian spies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russian spies. Show all posts

August 11, 2024

Tinker, Tailor, Carefully Curated Art Dealer Spy



The Perfect Cover: A Life in Slovenia

In a tale that feels straight out of a Cold War spy novel, Slovenia, a tranquil nation nestled in Central Europe, found itself at the center of an espionage drama involving two Russian sleeper agents: Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Valerievna Dultseva. 

For years, Dultsev and Valerievna Dultseva lived what seemed like a perfectly normal life in Slovenia. They presented themselves as a financially secure married couple who had emigrated to Europe because of rising crime levels in South America.  They even enrolled their young Spanish-speaking children, who had no idea they were Russian, into a private English-speaking international school in Ljubljana. 

But behind the facade, of a successful entrepreneur and an online art gallery owner, lay a dark secret: they were actually Russian sleeper agents, complete with fake passports with carefully curated backstories.

To blend seamlessly into the community, Dultsev, portrayed himself as an information technology executive coming from Argentina named Ludwig Gisch.  Once in Europe, he opened a company in Slovenia named DSM&IT in September 2017, which he registered in his and Valerevna's names.  This firm purportedly sold security software.  

After the formation of their first business enterprise, Valerievna Dultseva, posing as Maria Rosa Mayer Muños, and going by the name Maria Mayer, opened a second front business.  Her business claimed to be a "virtual" gallery, named Art Gallery 5'14.  In describing her pseudo gallery "Maria" claimed to "work with 90 artists (painters, sculptors, photographers, graphic designers) from all over the world" and to represent them at art fairs and exhibitions that she organised.  Both of these cover businesses eventually found physical spaces in an office building on Parmovo Street behind the Bežigrad District of Ljubljana. 

Valerievna Dultseva, likewise maintained a sockpuppet account on LinkedIn where she listed what are likely to be false academic qualifications from Sotheby's Institute of Art and the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia - U.N.E.D. in Spain. 

Living alongside their assumed identities and businesses, Dultsev and Valerievna Dultseva were the kind of neighbours who didn't raise eyebrows in the peaceful Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. To the outside world, they were the epitome of an ordinary married couple living an ordinary life.  But beneath this veneer of normalcy, Artem and Anna were far from ordinary. 

That is, until their activities eventually caught the attention of counterintelligence agencies.  The couple were quietly arrested in December 2022 by the Slovenian Security and Intelligence Agency, reportedly following a tip given to them by “a foreign intelligence agency”.   

When their Ljubljana home was searched, Slovenian authorities found “an enormous amount of cash” and evidence that demonstrated that the pair operated under the direction of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.  As Russia's external intelligence agency, the SVR focuses mainly on civilian affairs but also serves to recruit, train, and dispatch spies, some of whom pose as ordinary citizens in Western countries. 

Typically planted in foreign countries, often for years at a stretch, and with the directives to integrate themselves into society, agents like Dultsev and Valerievna Dultseva would have been tasked with covert operations, making the couple's choice of countries strategic.  By basing themselves in a Schengen zone country, they had the freedom to travel throughout Europe unquestioned.

News of the couple's s spying activity first made headlines on 31 July 2024 as each of them pleaded guilty in Slovenian court to charges of espionage and using fake documents to register their firms.  Sentenced to one year and seven months in prison, followed by deportation, and a ban on reentering Slovenia for five years.  More interesting still, their guilty pleas and reuninfication with their children, who had been placed in foster care, were coordinated as part of the biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, since the 1991 collapse of the USSR. 

During this exchange, which involved negotiations at the highest levels of nine governments, a total of 16 political prisoners were swapped with eight Russian individuals jailed in the West.  Individuals who included the spy family, as well as swindlers, criminals, and a murderer serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 Berlin murder of a Georgian man who had fought with Chechen separatists. 

On August 1, 2024 after nearly 20 months in custody, Dultsev and Valerievna Dultseva were photographed, reunited with their children, on the tarmac of Vnukovo airport in Moscow, with the family being greeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.  


The Art Market as a Canvas for Espionage

As the world continues to grapple with geopolitical tensions, cases like this one illustrate the ongoing use of spycraft in the 21st century.  The exposure of sleeper agents like Artem and Anna has significant implications and this incident highlights the importance of vigilance in the face of international espionage.  It also is an interesting reminder of the lengths (and time) intelligence agencies will go to achieve their objectives. 

The uncloaking of these two spies should also serve as a wake-up call to one of the more unique ways businesses operating within the art market might be manipulated in disreputable ways, and in this case by countries themselves.  

The art world, often perceived as a realm of beauty and high culture, can be a surprisingly fertile ground for clandestine operations of all types and in this instance, its unique characteristics made it an attractive cover for intelligence activities, especially given that the art market provides opportunities for:

Cash Transactions: While the art market is increasingly digitised, cash transactions still predominate in certain segments. This can be exploited for illicit financial activities.

Discreet Communication: Art can be used as a medium for covert communication. Hidden messages or codes can be embedded within paintings, sculptures, or other art forms.

Cover for Travel: Art dealers, collectors, and auction house representatives often travel extensively. This provides a legitimate cover for intelligence officers to move and meet freely across borders.

Money Laundering: Art can be used to launder illicit funds. Overvaluing or undervaluing artworks can help to disguise the origin of money.

Smuggling: Art shipments can be used to conceal contraband, such as classified documents.

Intelligence Gathering: Art events, exhibitions, and auctions can be used as platforms for gathering intelligence. Art dealers and collectors often interact with high-net-worth individuals who may possess valuable information.

Recruitment: The art world can be a fertile ground for recruiting agents. Offering employment in art-related positions can provide further cover for recruited intelligence operatives.

Dead Drops: Art galleries or auction houses can be used as dead drops for exchanging classified information.

Under the guise of running a successful gallery, the art world’s natural focus on discretion and privacy allowed Russian spy Anna Valerievna Dultseva to seamlessly blend into Slovenia society.  All the while her carefully constructed public persona shielded her true purpose, and afforded her the freedom to maneuver undetected within the intricate web of international intrigue.